The field of communication is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy. Two basic modes of communication are electronic and hardcopy communications. Well known examples of electronic communication are e-mail (Internet), computer facsimile and digital telephony, while a classic example of hardcopy communication is traditional mail delivery. There are also mixed forms of communication combining hardcopy and electronic modes such as traditional facsimile and hybrid mail. Both electronic and hardcopy communications offer advantages and disadvantages to users. The electronic communications, while fast and economical, lack universal coverage of traditional mail and create multiple security and legal concerns, particularly in sensitive transaction-type communications. The hardcopy mail is slower and more expensive, but it covers a vast majority of the population and offers legal proof that is frequently required in business and social endeavors.
Recently, in the United States of America and other countries, new digital methods of payment evidencing for traditional mail have been approved by respective posts. Specifically, Digital Postage Marks (DPM) (a.k.a. digital indicia, a.k.a. information-based indicia) are computerized information printed or otherwise attached to a mail item to provide an evidence of payment to a verification authority (e.g., the United States Postal Service). See for example, PERFORMANCE CRITERIA FOR INFORMATION-BASED INDICIA AND SECURITY ARCHITECTURE FOR OPEN IBI POSTAGE METERING SYSTEMS, dated Apr. 26, 1999, which is a United States Postal Service specification that defines the requirements for a system which uses a general purpose computer for printing information-based indicia in a two-dimensional barcode. When the majority of the information in the DPM is presented in the form of a two-dimensional barcode (such as DataMatrix or PDF417), the DPM can carry a very substantial amount of information that can be automatically and economically computerized, printed and later scanned using conventional computer-driven scanners. The nature of this information has been application dependent and, typically, has been oriented toward security features for verification of payment evidence. This type of information, generally referred to as postal data, preferably includes identification of the metering device (or licensee) responsible for the payment, unique identification of mail item, value of various accounting registers, location of the mail deposit/mailer's account, postage value and other similar information. Such information is typically protected by a cryptographically generated validation code known as CPVC (Cryptographic Postage Validation Code). Another way to protect DPM is by supplying the verification authority with the value of the validation code (Postage validation Code or PVC) prior to mail submission as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,889, assigned to the assignee of this application.
One commonly recognized general purpose of sending a mail item is to solicit a reply message from a recipient or service provider. Such reply message may be a response to the message contained in the mail item. The reply message may also be a service type message relating to sending and/or delivering and/or receiving the mail item by either the mail recipient or the service provider, or both. The circumstance when confirmation of mail acceptance and/or delivery is required is particularly common and normally addressed by certified, registered or insured mail. These types of mail are traditionally organized around a physical proof of acceptance and delivery, such as a physical receipt, which is signed by the service provider's clerks and/or the mail recipient and physically delivered to the mail originator (mailer). The postal services incur considerable cost for such special services and value-added service, and the mailer is charged a fee that is significant in comparison to the cost of regular delivery of the mail item. For example, when a mailer requests a return receipt, the recipient of the mail signs a card stating that the mail has been received. This card is physically delivered back to the original mailer as acknowledgement of mail receipt from the recipient.
Therefore, typical physical proofs of acceptance and delivery are content limited, economically inefficient, and time-consuming. Furthermore, most, if not all, such methods require separate, essentially manual, handling of special services mail by the postal service which costs the postal service significantly more money than automated mail processing based on machine readability of information present on mail items.
As of 1998, almost 20% of the population in USA and industrial world in general have access to electronic mail via Internet. Even a higher number of mailers use facsimile regularly. These numbers are expected to grow dramatically in the future. Although such electronic communications provide speed and efficiency over the physical delivery of mail, there is no indication that such electronic communications will replace the physical delivery of mail. One solution to this problem disclosed in related application Ser. No. 09/33,768 has been to provide e-mail response rather than a physical mail item response. However, these response messages may not allow the recipient the ability to send a recipient signature image and a mail item image combined with a personalized communication to the originator. Such communication would typically require a separate, time-delayed transaction such as, for example, a return receipt mail piece, a separate e-mail message or a phone call or facsimile. Of course, those responses assume the recipient has knowledge of the original mailer's various addresses.